Bill increases veterans’ access to healthcare
Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)–January 29, 2015. In order to ensure better healthcare for our nation’s veterans, Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR-04) has signed on as an original cosponsor of the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015. This bill would improve upon recent reforms to the Veterans Administration, by making two critical clarifications:
*Clarify the 40-mile rule to mean forty miles of driving rather than as the crow flies. This common sense solution addresses a common complaint among veterans who use rural roads and/or travel through mountain passes, which can add significant mileage to travel.
*Allow veterans to receive local care if their closest VA facility is insufficient, meaning it lacks the equipment or specialists needed to provide the appropriate care.
“One of the best things Congress did last year was to adopt badly-needed reforms to the Veterans Administration, but clearly, our work was not finished,” DeFazio stated. “This new legislation makes common sense fixes to the VA’s overly bureaucratic application of the law. Our veterans should never be kept from the best possible care just because of where they live. I will continue to support legislation that improves access to the quality healthcare veterans deserve.”
There is a companion bill to the Veterans Access to Community Care Act of 2015 in the Senate.
Background:
In response to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) wait time manipulation and failure to provide timely, quality healthcare to veterans, Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act (VACAA) in July 2014 with the purpose of improving transparency at the VA and providing veterans the choice to access health care outside the VA when timeliness and distance put their well-being at risk. The passage of VACAA would permit veterans to access non-VA, community care if they live more than 40 miles from a VA medical facility or their wait time for an appointment was more than 30 days. The bill introduced in the 114th Congress is intended to improve and clarify the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014.
Source: defazio.house.gov
